Thursday, December 15, 2005

Well-Read but Pretty Chilly

I am very excited that I will be going home to New Jersey for Christmas, not so excited about the 5 plus hours of air travel, not to mention the 2 plus hours on the front end to get to the airport and check in (at the crack, of freakin’ dawn, I might add) and then the additional wait time on the other end to pick up baggage and what not. Also, not really excited about the cold weather. But you take the good, you take the bad, you take them both and then you get to go home and see your family. YAY! And on the good side, I will have several hours of (hopefully) minimally interrupted reading time on the plane. One of my favorite things to do is plan what reading material I will take on trips and although, I haven’t started packing my bags yet, I do know that I will be taking several books. I know I am taking Watchmen because I have never read it and…hey shutup! I said I was a nerd, I never said that I was a good nerd! I am also very much looking forward to reading The American Way of Death Revisited by Jessica Mitford. Ever since taking a class on death and dying in college, I have been interested in…death…and…dying. Well, more specifically, the funeral industry. A lot of people are really freaked out by it all but once you’ve met a handful of coffin makers and morticians, it’s a pretty interesting field. And Despite the fact that I think an awful lot of what is done is superstitious and a sham, I did meet some really nice people in the funeral business. Besides, when you read books about death on airplanes, people tend to leave you alone.

I was thinking about taking Johnathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke with me but I am slightly concerned with the size and weight of it. Maybe if I have room in my suitcase, I will slip it in just in case I don’t finish The Scar by China Miéville. I really liked Perdido Street Stations even if at precisely the half-way point of this 500 page (or so) book, it turned into something completely different.

I also picked a book from UglyTown Press to take with me, but I can’t remember which one. Maybe it was Rat City but I am not sure…hmmm.

Speaking of rats…RATS! I didn’t pick a book of poetry! Hmmm…I’ll have to think on that one. Maybe a little John Donne or…Christoper Marlowe. It’s good and when people see me reading it they get the mistaken impression that I am smart. Heh.

4 comments:

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I really like Watchmen, but I wasn't as keen on V for Vendetta (although I'm looking forward to the movie). Jonathon Strange and Mr. Norrell was great, but it is a big book (although there is a trade paperback out).

I did really like V for Vendetta, but I guess I was over-hyped and expected to like it more. It only came to mind because they showed the movie at Austin's Butt-Numb-A-Thon and I was reading reviews of it (stupid studios moved it from the fifth of November to sometime in March).